FOR PUBLICATION
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT
: ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE:
KURT A. YOUNG
STEVE CARTER
Nashville, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
RICHARD C. WEBSTER
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
TRAVIS L. STEPHENS, )
)
Appellant-Defendant, )
)
vs. ) No. 49A02-0304-CR-330
)
STATE OF INDIANA, )
)
Appellee-Plaintiff. )
OPINION - FOR PUBLICATION
Upon expiration of the 365-day limit, notwithstanding any petitions filed by the defendant,
the court loses further jurisdiction over the defendant insofar as the alteration of
the defendants sentence is concerned. Lewis, 754 N.E.2d at 1020.
Further, Indiana Code Section 35-38-2-3(g) provides:
If the court finds that the person has violated a condition [of probation]
at any time before termination of the period [of probation], and the petition
to revoke is filed within the probationary period, the court may:
(1) continue the person on probation, with or without modifying or enlarging the
conditions;
(2) extend the persons probationary period for not more than one (1) year
beyond the original probationary period; or
(3) order execution of the sentence that was suspended at the time of
initial sentencing.
Stephens contends that subsection (3) does not state that the entire sentence must
be imposed, only that the court may . . . order execution of
the sentence that was suspended at the time of the initial sentencing.
But the State reads the same statute to mean that if the trial
court revokes a defendants probation and wants to incarcerate him, the only option
is to impose the entire suspended sentence.
The interpretation of a statute is a question of law reserved for the
courts. State v. Rans, 739 N.E.2d 164, 166 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000),
trans. denied. If the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous,
it is not subject to judicial interpretation. Id. However, when the
language is susceptible to more than one construction, we must construe the statute
to determine the apparent legislative intent. Id. Our task with respect
to statutory interpretation has been summarized as follows:
We ascertain and implement legislative intent by giving effect to the ordinary and
plain meaning of the language used in the statute. The statute is
examined and interpreted as a whole and the language itself is scrutinized, including
the grammatical structure of the clause or sentence at issue. Within this
analysis, we give words their common and ordinary meaning, without overemphasizing a strict
literal or selective reading of individual words.
Id. (quoting Clifft v. Indiana Dept of State Revenue, 660 N.E.2d 310, 316
(Ind. 1995) (citations omitted)).
Indiana Code Section 35-38-2-3(g) provides the trial court with three options when a
defendant has violated a condition of his probation. The first two options
authorize the trial court to continue probation, with or without modifying or enlarging
the conditions, or to extend the original probationary period. The third option
authorizes the trial court to order execution of a suspended sentence when the
trial court revokes probation.
Another statute, Indiana Code Section 35-38-2-2.3(c), provides that as a condition of probation,
a court may require that the person serve a term of imprisonment in
an appropriate facility at the time or intervals (consecutive or intermittent) within the
period of probation the court determines. We construe together statutes that relate
to the same general subject matter. Boone County Area Planning Commn v.
Shelburne, 754 N.E.2d 576, 580 (Ind. Ct. App. 2001). Thus, where a
trial court opts to modify the conditions of a defendants probation under Indiana
Code Section 35-38-2-3(g)(1), the court may order the probationer to serve a prison
sentence under Section 35-38-2-2.3(c).
But in this case, the trial court did not modify the conditions of
Stephens probation or extend his probationary period. Rather, upon finding that Stephens
violated a condition of his probation, the trial court expressly revoked his probation.
See, e.g., Gardner v. State, 678 N.E.2d 398, 401 (Ind. Ct. App.
1997) (noting court may revoke or modify probation after finding violation of condition
of probation). Revocation of probation means the termination of all probationary conditions
and privileges. When a trial court revokes probation, only the third option
under Indiana Code Section 35-38-2-3(g) is available to the trial court, namely, order[ing]
execution of the sentence that was suspended at the time of initial sentencing.
In this case, the sentence that was suspended at the time of
initial sentencing was four years. Giving the words in the statute their
ordinary and plain meaning, we conclude that in this case, where Stephens probation
was revoked more than 365 days after he began serving his initial sentence,
the trial court did not have jurisdiction to impose a three-year sentence.
See footnote
Thus, we are obliged to reverse and remand with instructions to vacate the
sentence and impose a sentence consistent with Indiana Code Section 35-38-2-3(g).
Thus, when a trial court revokes probation, the court has no alternative under
Indiana Code Section 35-38-2-3(g)(3) but to order execution of the entire sentence suspended
at the time of the initial sentencing. However, when a trial court
modifies a condition of probation under Indiana Code Section 35-38-2-3(g)(1), the court is
authorized under Section 35-38-2-2.3(c) to order the probationer to serve a sentence less
than the entirety of the probationers initial suspended sentence.
Our holding is confined to circumstances like those presented here, where the trial
court expressly revokes the defendants probation before sentencing. We note that if
the trial court had not revoked Stephens probation but had opted to modify
the conditions of his probation instead, the court could have ordered Stephens to
serve a term of imprisonment less than the four year suspended sentence under
Indiana Code Section 35-38-2-2.3(c). In short, where a trial court finds that
a defendant has violated a condition of his probation, the court has authority
to revoke a defendants probation and impose the suspended sentence,
or continue the
defendant on probation, with or without modifying the conditions, or extend the defendants
probationary period for not more than one year.
Because the issue of the appropriateness of Stephens sentence is likely to recur
on remand, we address that issue here. In Schlichter v. State, 779
N.E.2d 1155 (Ind. 2002), the defendant challenged the propriety of the trial courts
imposition of consecutive sentences. But the defendant raised that issue for the
first time in a direct appeal from his probation revocation, more than four
years after the imposition of his sentence. Our supreme court held that
a defendant may not collaterally challenge his sentence on an appeal from his
probation revocation. Id. at 1156.
We hold that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to impose a
three-year sentence under the circumstances, and we remand for resentencing in accordance with
Indiana Code Section 35-38-2-3(g). And, following our supreme courts decision in Schlichter,
we hold that Stephens may not collaterally challenge his sentence on an appeal
from his probation revocation.
Reversed and remanded with instructions.
ROBB, J., and MATHIAS, J., concur.